I missed that story and I thought they had planned...

Weather is the root cause of this mess - remember those massive ice storms a couple of weeks ago?

I ordered a gift for my son on December 11, Jura shipped out by USPS on December 13, Anne Amazon reports it is expected to arrive sometime between January 8 and 24. I have no idea why it is taking so long to be delivered. Other things I ordered came promptly. Are they bringing it by mule?

and I hope your son was not heartbroken.

Unless you chose surface mail and not Amazon's usual UPS, there is no excuse, and I am disappointed as all of USPS knew how important top service would be this season.

All long haul movement of mail, whether by truck or air, is done by private contractors. Both UPS and FEDEX have USPS contracts.

I knew then they were swamped.

SF Bay Area: they have little carts they pull around behind their bikes. I only see them in December.

Should probably be used in many snow-free cities.

Both fed Ex and UPS have done this...no way to tell how things are actually shipping until they don't show up.

I was on the phone for 20 minutes yesterday tracking a missing package through Fed Ex...the log said there was "no such address" after I just saw the fed ex truck deliver to the people across the street. Turns out they had subcontracted it back to the Postal service, and since I live in a rural area...street addresses are non deliverable, and I didn't use my PO box because I thought it was supposed to ship via UPS or Fed Ex.
Thank goodness I was able to call our local main post office...and they actually found it in the pile and pulled it out for me. I baked them all cookies before I went down to get it. They deserved the extra boost for being there so late on Cmas Eve...

This year didn't represent a big surge in online shopping. It just continued the upward trend. As a result this is no surprise so UPS made a business decision not to expand capacity to handle a peak week of business. Expanding capacity also would have required hiring and training temporary workers so UPS rolled the dice and concluded a little bad publicity was more than offset by the cost savings of not expanding capacity to meet projected demand. These kind of cold-hearted business decisions are made all of the time.

and on the part of Amazon as well. And to be honest, on the part of the consumer as well when they decide to buy online.

FedEX & UPS. They also worked with Amazon this year. Accordingly they according to my sr. carrier cousin it was a protfitable venture for them. This year was the first he was home before 7:30-8pm Christmas Eve dinner. I have seen carriers out late this year 9pm making deliveries. The big guys like to think they can make it w/o the Postal Service and thats a myth...

I've mailed over 400 packages in the past couple years, and not a single one was lost. One was diverted for a week, but I could still track it. Only 2 breakages out of all those that could have been prevented had I packed better. And I got a package my friend mailed a few days ago on Christmas Eve. Love, love, love them!

I respect how hard people work to deliver. Used to work at a post office and we stood on our heads to get stuff out for Christmas. But really people, December 25, 2014 is coming. Do not wait until the last minute.

Seems most of these fiascos could be avoided by shopping a couple of weeks sooner. Seems kind of dicey to wait until the last minute then throw a hissy fit when the package doesn't get there on time.

I see no reason why UPS, USPS, Fed Ex or Amazon should apologize for anything. You shop at the last minute you takes your chances. And I say that as someone who has Christmas shopped almost entirely online for at least 6 years.

I've seen all these companies do their darnedest to get Christmas delivered. Shit happens - weather, last minute business surges... People are getting too used to instant everything saving them from having to actually plan.

The problem is with the shipper.
The solution is to Ship earlier.

Shop earlier!

Haven't heard a peep from the usual Idiocy Corp

Some of us call them "One Post Wonders". They ordered minutes before Christmas and now are out of their minds yelling, screaming and RANTING.

In some small amount of fairness, both channels did heavy promotion about getting stuff to you by the 24th...guess they didn't take full account of the shippers being swamped (UPS truck, 2nd one yesterday, went through the neighborhood about 9PM last night).

deserves to have their heads explode!

Who do nothing but devise ways to make life hell for their employees rather than to efficiently run a business.

And these are the people the right wing wants to have take over the USPS? No thanks.

Almost everyone in ups management couldn't deliver a package if they had to. You can not run a monster like Ups if you don't know the basic ins and outs of its business. All they can do is figure dividends and it showed this Christmas. Let the a Teamsters run there operation and profits will double.

My sister, now retired, worked in UPS management, and every December she had to put on the browns and deliver packages.

I ordered the parts for my new computer last Friday and the scheduled delivery date was December 27. So I was surprised when a UPS truck pulled in on the 24th and the driver carried my packages to the door.

Maybe some parts of the UPS system are behind, but not the route from Memphis, Tennessee to my door in Florida!

worth more than my entire purchase. I didn't even ask.

I'm finding that Amazon Prime and UPS's general incompetence is a good way to get free stuff.

Seems like maybe it would have been more efficient to make a single delivery of 3 packages. Just a thought.

I'm a rural carrier, I deliver quite a few parcels for UPS. I have no idea how they decide what to use us for and what to use their own employees for. I see many parcels that I know I didn't drop off. Yet UPS will have me deliver to the same stop. Luckily they get to run, lol, I would be fired if I did and hurt myself in the process.

This delivery problem was news to me. I just googled it and it is bad news but the stock has only gone down LESS than a 1/5 of a point ---- $104 (it was $70 last year )

FedEx, especially the drivers, are NOT EMPLOYEES- they are contracted hourly employees. No health bennies, no Soc.Sec. or unemployment payments by FedEx ...here is your money you are on your own. Consider that when you have a choice to use the -> or BROWN.

That being said UPS managers are usually fully on deck for Christmas. I know someone who works for UPS in an office setting and they are cleared to drive trucks or work on the brown trucks if need be.

Should be getting kudos here. They hire people and they pay some gold plated bennies. They are also union. All is not perfect, of course, but when it comes to employment they are the anti-Walmart.

It's such a tough business. They work so hard and I'm sure us the little guy who gets the flak when things go wrong. I hope the customers will be forgiving, given tis the season and all.

Well, I just don't see how FedEx and UPS could have foreseen inclement weather in December, a shorter purchasing season, or their own over-promises (the justifications used by both parties).

Somehow, we must rationalize a way to blame the USPS for this, and leave free enterprise to do what it does best-- sell us a bill of goods.

that I didn't even need for Christmas anyway!